`I felt like this gentleman got what he deserved,' Hill said. `A couple of days ago, I didn't think that would be right. Watching him changed my mind.'
Clark County Common Pleas Judge Gerald Lorig on Friday followed the recommendation of a jury, which convicted Coleman on Monday of killing Melinda Stevens on Jan. 2, 1996, and sentenced Coleman to death on an aggravated murder charge. The execution date is Jan. 2, 1998, the second anniversary of Stevens' murder.
Prosecutors said Coleman shot Stevens twice in the head in an alley off West Pleasant Street to prevent her from testifying against him in a drug trafficking case.
`We thought it was extremely important to send a message,' said Stephen Schumaker, Clark County prosecutor. `If you kill a witness, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law and try to put you in the electric chair.'
Jon Doughty, one of Coleman's attorneys, said there would be an appeal but his firm would not be involved. `It will be in the Court of Appeals for a long time,'Doughty said.
The appeals process in death penalty cases generally takes several years and there has not been an execution in Ohio since 1963.
Coleman's courtroom demeanor, showing a lack of remorse, upset the Stevens family, Hill said. She said he should have apologized to the victim's family. `That hurts my mother,' she said. `I feel grief for his mother, but not for him.'
Lorig also sentenced Coleman to 82 months in prison for carrying a weapon under a disability and added three years onto his sentence for using a firearm while committing a crime. He ordered all the prison time be served consecutively. Coleman is serving a 15-to-49-year sentence for drug trafficking.
Stevens had worked for police as a drug informant. During the trial, prosecution witnesses said Coleman told them Stevens had to die and described the murder to other inmates in jail.
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